Unless you own an industrial-strength professional mixer, I would strongly suggest that you mix everything by hand. The dough will be so thick it will very likely burn out a typical hand mixer.

In a large bowl, mix the softened margarine and cream cheese until they are completely mixed and have a creamy consistency. Add the egg and the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Here comes the hard part. Add the cake mix one-third at a time. Mix the dough completely and thoroughly before adding the next third. When all of the cake mix has been added and the dough is thoroughly mixed, cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.

Preheat your oven to 350. Drop teaspoonsfull of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. At this point you may sprinkle the decorations onto the cookies. (I usually dip the cookies into the sprinkles.) Pick a color appropriate for the season. Example: red & green for Christmas, pink & purple for Easter, orange for Halloween, red & blue for Independence Day. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges just turn golden brown.

Warning: Leave lots of room on the cookie sheets as these cookies really expand in the oven.

Remove your cookies from the oven and allow them to cool before serving. You may need a metal spatula to remove them from the sheet.

Yields about six dozen cookies, depending on how big you make them.

Use chocolate cake mix and sprinkle with crushed nuts. Be careful when using chocolate cake mix. The dark color causes the cookies to bake a little quicker.

Instead of colored sprinkles, press a Hershey's Kiss or a chocolate star into each cookie.